No Regrets
by Kid Eternity
Summary: It has been 9 years and a 16 year old Mina is faced with a dilemma which might hinder her friendship/relationship with the Count. Please read and review for the possibility of more chapters.


Mina and the Count…_9 years later_!

Mina was pacing back and forth in her room, while holding what seemed to be an almost crumpled up piece of paper. Upon close inspection, it bore her name, but upon closer survey it also had the words "Report Card" on it; a matter which troubled her greatly.

It has been a tedious month of study for her, ever since her last report card held less than admirable marks, "_Young lady_, _until you improve your grades_,_ there will be no TV_,_ no phone calls_,_ no going out without permission_, _and _definitely-_no late nights_!"

The one in her hand wasn't any better, as she was only able to bring her grades up by a slight, a fact which she was sure would not be overlooked by her father, "_I_ _'am so toast with dad right now_, _he_'_ll never let me turn this down_" she thought worriedly.

She was even more worried however, on how this would affect her relationship with Vlad, "_There_'_s got to be a way for me to fix this_," her thoughts began to overtake her attention, as she did not notice her father abruptly coming in unannounced,

"Now what do we have here?" he quickly took the card out of Mina's grasp, which immediately snapped her out of her deep thinking,

"Dad? Uh…I…hey!" she tried to grab her report card back, only to be blocked by her father with his other hand on her forehead, which she struggled vainly to break free from, "_Darn his long arms_!" she thought exasperatedly,

Quickly going through his daughter's grades, he could not help but sigh in disappointment, "Mina darling, what did we discuss about the last time, hm? Did we not agree that you were to study hard and bring your grades up so that I wouldn't have to worry?"

Mina could only cross her arms, "Yeah I know, but dad I…!" her father raised his hand to silence her,

"Now I don't want to hear any more excuses, it's bad enough you're doing poorly in school, now you're talking back to me?" he paused for a moment in brief thought, "One month!"

"_A whole month_!?" Mina's mouth was wide open in disbelief,

"You better believe it missy, it's your fault for not complying to what I specifically asked you to do. Mina, ever since your sister left after she got married I thought I wouldn't have to exert as much effort in raising you anymore since you were already growing up, but now I see that you're still not mature enough to take responsibility,"

He proceeded to leave the room with her card in hand, but not before turning around to give his daughter his last remarks for the night, "And one more thing, don't even think about leaving this room young lady. Do not assume for even a second that I don't know about you sneaking out late at night to have a good time. I guess that's why you've always been tardy and doing lousy at school lately," and with that he slammed the door, leaving a visibly disgruntled Mina to take the full brunt of her father's words.

She could not help but shed a few tears, to which she used the end of her right sleeve to wipe them off from her eyes, "_I can_'_t believe this is happening_. _What am I going to tell Vlad_?"

_At that moment_…

In a dark castle on top of the hill near the suburbs in which Mina resided, a pale, blue skinned figure stood in the dimly lit room of his private study, "Igor! Have you gotten the book yet?" he called up to a tall book shelf,

Igor struggled to keep himself balanced on top of the ladder, as his hump provided an uneven counterweight, "Uh…almost got it master!" he could not help but grunt in irritation as he reached forward to get the book that his master desired,

"Vell hurry it up! I haven't got all night! Mina will be here any minute and I vant everything to be perfect, especially the book I am going to lend her,"

Igor couldn't help but cringe at the sound of that _human girl_'_s_ name, the only thing that bothered him more than his master being an insensitive taskmaster, was the thought of him fraternizing with a mere mortal,

"_You think he_'_d be over her by now_,_ I mean it_'_s been 9 years already_, _he could have just drained her dry_,_ be done with it and move on_._ Thank goodness in another 60 or 70 years_,_ she_'_ll be gone_!" Igor could not help but grin at that thought, which was enough to momentarily distract him from the task at hand.

Sensing that the ladder was about to tip, he quickly grabbed the book before proceeding to fall down, "Look out master!" he called out to the Count to move him out of the way, not that Vlad needed to go very far, as the ladder; with Igor in tow, managed to fall only a few meters from where he was standing,

"Ah! This is the vun!" he grabbed the book being held out by Igor's limp hand, "_L'Année terrible_, vun of Victor Hugo's most esteemed of vorks, thank you Igor…now clean yourself up you disgust me," he said as he walked away from the unsavory sight of his minion under a ladder,

"Certainly master… as soon as I get over this mind numbing pain…!" he said as several of his bones cracked.

_Back at Mina's house_...

Mina was beside herself with grief as she lied face down on her bed; her pillow muffled cries hardly audible.

As she cried her heart out, she barely noticed that it was already 11:38, which was way past the agreed time she would usually meet the Count.

The punishment instilled on her by her father was just too much for her to comprehend, as it was the first time it has ever happened. Sure there were many before, but not as severe as this; it would usually be something like no TV or video games for a month, but never forbidding her to go out.

After meeting the Count, Mina relished the night. To her it was freedom itself, more so than she could ever get from the day.

He was everything to her; her best friend, possibly the only person to ever truly understand her for who and what she really was; no one besides him ever had the capacity to do so. However, as the years went by, something different began to grow about her relationship with him.

Now; at the tender age of 16, she began to see him less and less as a best friend, and more and more as a man. As she got older, her feelings for him gradually deepened into something that she never even bothered to pay much attention to as a young girl.

It was a feeling that never once crossed her mind, probably because she was too busy with other matters in life, yet it was something her sister Lucy would always taunt her with. Now that she was gone, Mina wished she could have at least gotten some advice from her.

"_This_…_is stupid_…_Vlad's going to hate me for not showing up_!" her hot tears continued to slowly soak her pillow.

After another hour, she was still crying when suddenly she heard a knock on her window. Quickly she turned around and her grief was immediately replaced with relief as Vlad was right outside, carrying what seemed like a book in his right hand.

Mina rushed to the window and opened it, inviting Vlad inside, "Mina? It's already past 12, vhy are y…?" Vlad stopped mid-sentence when she noticed how bloodshot her eyes were and her tearstained cheeks, "Mina! Vhat in heaven's name has happened to you?" he rushed to Mina, completely forgetting the book he was carrying as he dropped it on the floor,

"N-nothing…I was just…slicing some onions before going to bed," she sniffed and wiped a tear away with her finger before embracing him,

Seeing through her ridiculous lie, he immediately proceeded to move her to bed, "Mina, vhat is the matter? You can tell me," trying his best to comfort her as she began to sob again,

"My dad…he grounded…me for a month for getting bad grades," she stifled,

"So? Your father has grounded you before, yes?" he said matter-of-factly,

"But not like this…he won't let me get out of the house without his permission…you know what that means? No more going out at night to see you!" she could barely contain her distress,

Vlad was taken slightly aback by this, but quickly calmed down, "No problem, ve'll just sneak out of the house and your father vill not be the viser," he bit his lip and grinned mischievously in order to cheer her up,

She giggled when she saw his comical face "Well, that could work, but I can't just do that to my dad,"

"Vhy not? He scolded you for no good reason," he crossed his arms in contempt,

"No, I got bad grades, he has every right as a parent to do that," Mina said a little more coherently as she was regaining some of her composure,

"Look Mina, let us go into the night, the cool breeze vill be refreshing and rid you of your gloom," he said while caressing her right cheek,

"It's okay Vlad, just as long as you're here it's…okay, I mean you can still come here yourself and see me…right?"

"Of course, anything for you my dear Mina," he said warmly reassuring her.

Mina couldn't help but smile back at Vlad and his kindness, she could hardly believe at that moment all the terrible things she had watched and read about vampires throughout the years that it was almost ludicrous to consider Vlad as anything but such, not that she didn't find any of that stuff likeable…to her.

Yet, here he was now, still warm and loving towards her just as he had always been, "Vlad…I've been thinking…what am I to you?"

Vlad was taken aback by this aback by this question, but even more so than when he heard about her punishment, "Eh…vhat do you mean Mina?"

Mina moved in closer, her face was a little unsure, but she was staring daggers into the Count that he could not help but back away, "Vlad…I've been thinking about this for quite a while now, and I think now's the time for me to ask you, and whatever answer you'll give me, I'll accept it. So please…what am I to you?"

The moment proved to be a standstill for Vlad, he began to ponder with himself. Of course the Count knew what Mina meant, he wasn't blind, and years of experience with women has given him that insight,

"Uh…Mina, perhaps you are just tired, I-I mean it is getting la…!" he was cut off by a sudden; and rather _deep_ kiss from Mina who, after realizing that Vlad wasn't going to answer her question any time soon, decided to take the initiative…which was producing more results than she ever expected.

At first, the Count was unable to react, except for a slight discomfort of being voluntarily and forcefully kissed.

It had been a long time since any woman had done that, especially considering how long it has been since he has even been with any young women, given his time with Mina. Yet here was one now, and as if by twisted fate it was Mina, the girl who he witnessed grow up since the 7 year old girl he met not that long ago.

He tried to push her away, but he found that his hands couldn't move. Try as he might, he could not even budge her away from him.

Consciously, he would have pushed her away and turned her down gently, but subconsciously however, he wasn't so sure in deciding whether to push her into her bed and ravage her body or rip her clothes off and feast on her bare flesh (not to be taken literally).

This was simply too much, "M-Mina, control yourself child!" he pushed her away just as sudden as she had given herself to him,

Mina couldn't help but be overtaken by a sharp pang of disappointment, "So…that's it…that's all what I am to you, a child?" she giggle in between saying it, but it only emphasized the disillusionment she felt,

"Mina, please try to understand…you know very well…that you and I…well it's not that I find you unattractive it's just…," Vlad felt like he could drive a stake through his heart for what he was doing, and as he looked on as Mina was becoming more and more fragile, he quickly made a decision that might or might not destroy the very thing that he cherished most…he kissed her back.

More passionately than she ever did, Mina quickly gave in and was prepared to surrender herself to him, if only for that night only.

Both of them couldn't hold back anymore, it was now or never.

As both of them continued to ravish each other's lips, they were slowly taking of their own and each other's clothes while reveling in passion.

Whatever would come out of that moment, both of them were certain that they would never, ever, regret it for as long as they would live.


End file.
